EKG+ Production Update

As you’ve likely seen, we have started to ship Stagg EKG units (the non-BlueTooth version) to Kickstarter Backers. As you know, the EKG+ units were not in the same container. Although we did expect about a month difference between the two units, we didn’t forecast many of the challenges we’re currently facing.

We have some good news and some bad news. The good news is we are shipping Stagg EKG now to Kickstarter backers and early website pre-orders. Overall, the response has been incredible. When you receive your product we know you’re going to be satisfied. The bad news is we hit a large Stagg EKG+ roadblock that is going to delay shipment. The good news (we’re doing a good, bad, good news sandwich here) is that we’ve figured out a solution to this roadblock.

The Stagg EKG and EKG+ will be ETL certified by Intertek — this is proof of compliance to North American safety standards. Our initial assumption was ETL certification would be almost identical for EKG and EKG+ as there are only minor physical differences between the two (and for cost, we could kill two birds with one stone). The cost can be $20,000+ for full testing. However, we were mistaken and need to certify the two kettles separately, costing more time and money (i.e., huge blow to our bank account). On top of that, ETL changed a rule on Bluetooth connected appliances effective October 31, stating there needs to be a way to turn Bluetooth connectivity on or off from the base unit (i.e., disable the Bluetooth entirely, not just disconnect from the app). Therefore, we now have to build that switch into our code so you will be able to manually disable/enable Bluetooth on your EKG+. This change was made this past weekend and will now be thoroughly tested and submitted to Intertek for ETL review. This is in addition to FCC testing that must be completed as well on the final unit sample.

What does this mean for timing? As of now, we’re shooting to start production of EKG+ in December. However, that means we are looking at EKG+ shipping out of our Oakland, CA warehouse by mid January. Having said that, we’ve been working our butts off to make sure this product pushes forward ASAP. That timeline is realistic, and we’re hoping we can still beat that date.

This obviously sucks for everyone. We can only imagine how frustrating it must be to see EKG backers brewing with their new matte black toy. As always, thank you for believing in us and having patience through this process!

If you have any order specific questions, please shoot us a note at hello@fellowproducts.com

Thanks!

Jake and the Fellow Team

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